


Always Eat Your Veggies

by masked



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, Pre-Season/Series 08, Purgatory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-27
Updated: 2015-04-06
Packaged: 2019-09-07 00:46:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16843768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/masked/pseuds/masked
Summary: Based on the prompt: Dean has been unable to find much that is edible for humans in Purgatory.Dean looks for Cas and comes across a tree.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Feb 27, 2014 [here](http://chappedassmonkey.tumblr.com/post/77946319146/always-eat-your-veggies).

Dean ran through the thick woods of Purgatory like a starved wolf, swift and quiet. He paused and listened, searching for his next prey.

In the deafening silence, a crack emerged.

He ran, sharply inhaling the putrid acidic air into his lungs. He chased after the prey, nimbly avoiding the rocks that used to leave him stumbling when he was first forced into Purgatory by exploding Dick. He reached out and grabbed him by his collar, slamming the cold undead body against the nearest tree trunk.

“ _Where’s the angel_?” he bellowed, the question automatically rolling off his tongue.

The vamp laughed with a toothy grin. “Bite me.”

“Was that a vampire joke? Because that was not funny.”

“I don’t know where your angel is,” he hissed, baring his vampire teeth. “But I may be able to help you with your little… human problem.”

“I’d say my problems are the least of your worries right now.”

“You’re hungry, ain’t ya?” He grinned, and Dean passively stared back. “I bet you are. This place isn’t meant for humans, especially when there’s nothing for you to eat.”

“Yeah? And you do?" _Shit_ , he’d bit the bait, but fuck if he was going to let this guy get away anyways.

"We’re doomed to eat each other, sure, but not you. No, you’re too human for that, aren’t you? Won’t sink to our level.”

The first time it crossed his mind, he almost puked up what little food was left in his stomach.

Granted, it wasn’t like he had much of a choice at the moment. God didn’t exactly plan on having humans in Purgatory so it was only fair there was literally nothing edible for them on this plane. However, he didn’t know the supernatural effects of eating a werewolf or a rugaru or a wendigo and he wasn’t about to risk the chance of becoming one of _them_ for the sake of filling his stomach. Only this wasn’t about filling his stomach anymore, and more of surviving until he found Cas and went home to Sam and Kevin.

Still, the fact that he had _considered_ eating the… whatever it was he’d killed in the first place caused his empty stomach to lurch. It _terrified_ him, the way this place was messing with his head.

The vampire snarled. “I bet you all of my teeth that you’ll have access to the remnants of the Garden.”

“The Garden?”

“Oh, didn’t you know? This place used to be part of the Garden until God decided the Leviathans were a menace. From what I hear, God left a tree from there in this place after He decided to slice a chuck of the Garden off to turn it into a cage.”

“And what’s that got to do with me?”

“Think ambrosia. Think nectar, but on a lower scale and instead of making you immortal…” He grinned at the clench of Dean’s jaw. “Ahh, there it is.”

“It keeps me from being hungry.”

“Exactly. Of course, the effect would probably wear off after you leave this plane, but it’s worth a try right?”

“Then where’s the tree?”

The vampire’s eyes widened in surprise. “Y-You can’t expect me to know that—”

Dean hummed.

“Seriously, I don’t know where it is—”

Dean twirled his weapon in his hand. 

“I told you everything I know—”

The vampire’s neck was softer than some of the things Dean had to kill on this cursed grounds. Dean rolled his shoulders, walking away from the corpse.

Finding Cas was the most urgent thing on Dean’s mind, but there was also no way he would live to see that stupid asshole’s face again if it meant looking for him long-term without any food source to go by. He didn’t like the idea of eating something from a place like this, but it might also mean going home. With Cas.

“God damn it, Cas,” he muttered under his breath with no poison. “The things I do for you. I’m about to go find some freaky tree from the Garden, you hear? I promise I’ll get us out of here, so just stay alive for me.”

Dean held his breath in case a flutter of wings was heard, and continued roaming through the woods when he didn’t.

* * *

Few hours later, Dean met Benny. When he asked him about the tree in question after their little arrangement about getting out of Purgatory, Benny frowned in concentration and nodded in agreement.

“It’s definitely possible,” Benny drawled. “Though I doubt God meant to leave the tree here.”

“So the tree was a happy little mistake.”

Benny frowned in confusion. “I guess you could call it that?”

“I— Nevermind. We look for the tree while we look for the angel.”

“Fine by me.”

The information wasn’t too hard to find. The legend about the tree was spread all over Purgatory over the years and the only setback they had was getting the information out of the informed. After being confirmed by several that the tree was most likely in the center of Purgatory and the angel was nowhere in sight, Dean and Benny made their way over towards the tree.

“You know, I’ve been wonderin’,” Benny stated, the twig underneath his shoe breaking with a crunch.

“Good for you,” Dean grunted back.

“You don’t have to look for this tree. I’ve already told you a way out.”

“Your point being?”

“So why aren’t we leavin’ this place?”

“I already told you, we gotta find the angel.”

“If they’re really an angel as you say they are, then they’re gonna be fine here. Nothing can harm them. So why, Dean? Why’s a puny human like you roaming around looking for the one creature that’d make us more visible to everything else?”

That was a good question. He hadn’t seen Cas, _his_ Cas since… hell, who knew. One year it turned out he was a god, then the following year he was the crazy uncle that made everyone uncomfortable at dinner parties.

Still, just because he’d killed few thousand people and angels didn’t cancel out that Cas was family. Hell, Sam basically released Lucifer unto the world and Dean himself did some (a lot of) ugly things that he wasn’t proud of. Cas perfectly fit into the family.

Even then, none of that mattered in the end. Because…

“Because he’s Cas,” Dean replied out loud. “I don’t need more reason than that.”

“So the angel has a name. How— Dean?”

“Holy shit,” Dean breathed out.

The golden and green glow emitted from the tree was almost blinding against its depressing surrounding environment. If it wasn’t for the glow Dean wouldn’t have known this was _the_ tree since it otherwise looked like the rest of the trees around here.

“Are you not seeing this?”

“See what? You found it?”

“It’s right in front of us.”

Benny shook his head. “It looks like a normal tree to me. Must be showin’ itself to you since you’re human.”

Dean gulped, and steadily made his way towards the tree, fearing some kinda lightning to strike him at any moment. Thankfully, he was able to safely reach the tree, though it bore no fruit.

“What the hell am I supposed to eat if there’s nothing _to_ eat?”

“The bark, maybe?” Benny joked. “I think it would work as long as it’s part of the tree.”

“Huh.” Dean reached for the nearest branch and plucked few leaves off. He chewed the leaves thoroughly and as soon as he swallowed them, he could feel the hunger going away.

“Did it work?”

“Yeah." It was almost too unnatural, the way the sharp pain in his stomach was gone all at once.

"Cas, you listening?” Dean prayed under his breath as he plucked a few more leaves off the branch. Just in case. “I just ate some leaves from a tree of the Garden and now I feel like I never have to eat again. Is this how angels feel like all the time?”

 _Where the fuck are you, man_?

“I teamed up with a vamp for now. He says he knows a way out.”

_Please don’t be hurt._

“Now I can look for you without anything holding me back.”

_Don’t be dead._

“I’m coming for you, so don’t you dare give up on me, alright? Just hold on a little more.”

 _Don’t leave me again_.

Dean took one last look at the tree, basking in its ethereal glow for the last time before he turned and walked away with Benny. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> based on dialogue prompt: "Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally posted on April 6, 2015 [here](http://hamburgergod.tumblr.com/post/115627888843/17).
> 
> I'm posting these two separately written fics as chapters since they're both relatively short.

“Don’t think we’re getting any closer to finding that angel o’ yours, Dean,” Benny says from behind him, a little out of breath. Sweet lord, were all hunters this fast? “It’s been days.”

“Yeah, well,” Dean grunts, “you better hope your ass we will, ‘cause I’m not leaving without him.”

Benny sighs to himself. Nobody can tell him he didn’t try to break it to him gently. “Have you considered the possibility that maybe he just don’t want to be found?”

He leaves out the ‘by you’ for good measures, but he’s sure Dean hears it. Dean stops in his tracks and turns, and Benny is reminded of a starved wolf. “And why the hell would he do that?”

“Don’t mind me, but we’ve been searching up and down around here and still haven’t found any trace of him, let alone anyone who’s seen him. _If,_ as you say,there’s such a thing as an angel, he’d be pretty powerful enough to take care o’ himself in a place like this.”

Dean narrows his eyes. “You think he’s covering his tracks.” Benny shrugs, and Dean huffs. “Yeah, well, I told you. He was pretty weak when we got here. I doubt he’d be strong enough for smiting right now.”

He says that, but Benny sees the idea already taking hold of Dean’s thoughts. Well, good, because he wants out of here as much as the next guy. “Why’s this so important to you? You seem capable of taking care of yourself, so what’s he to you, anyway?”

Dean’s face falls, and a range of emotions fleet across his face quickly. Benny’s suddenly reminded of Andrea. 

The mask goes back on just as quickly, and Dean scowls at him. “That’s none of your fucking business,” he spits. 

Benny doesn’t know what he’s about to say next as they hear a bristle to their right. Dean snaps his attention to whatever the poor creature that’s about to be their victim, as does Benny. The fight is quick, and soon Dean has him cornered against a tree. He watches as Dean interrogates the creature—a fellow vamp—demanding the usual answers, and watches as this one fails to answer correctly. 

Dean throws the decapitated head away, and gestures at him. “C’mon,” he says, and walks ahead.

Benny heaves a little. ”Looks like we’ll be trapped for a while…”


End file.
